How much knowledge of French needed?

[Jennyfer]

I am so looking forward to the PG cruise to French Polynesia. I studied French for one year many decades ago. How much French will I need to know on the ship, on the shore, and in the Intercontinental Hotel? I am a bit nervous about this.

[Emdee]

I know very little french and have never had a problem in 5 trips.

 

Now if you want to have a philosophical discussion with a Tahaitian resident you will likely need to know French but otherwise you certainly wont need it on the ship/Intercontinental or most of the islands.

[mikenbob]

We are from Georgia, so we barely speak English...but, have never had a problem communicating in French Polynesia. Take a deep breath and think happy thoughts...you will soon be in the most beautiful place on Earth with the most delightful people that you will ever encounter!

[MightyQuinn]

No worries Jennyfer. All shipboard announcements are given in both English and French and sometimes also in Tahitian. PG tours are operated in English, unless otherwise indicated. We had a large number of French-speaking guests on our Marquesas cruise and Mark Eddowes ran some of his treks in French, but it was clearly marked on the shorex order form. Some tour operators may have limited English, but certainly enough for you to understand them. Vendors on MM spoke English. The only exception we found was menus at small cafes or bars which were not heavily touristed. Many were not in English but you could still figure it out.

 

Mikenbob - too funny! There are SO many variations of English that it does get a bit hilarious at times.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

A little French is nice to have, but you don't need it, that's for sure.

[jmf123]

It was fun to know a few phrases, the extent of our French in two PG sailings consisted of:

 

merci (thank you)

merci beaucoup (thank you very much)

oui (yes)

bonjour (hi/hello/good morning/good afternoon)

:o

[Hibiscus13]

It was fun to know a few phrases, the extent of our French in two PG sailings consisted of:

 

merci (thank you)

merci beaucoup (thank you very much)

oui (yes)

bonjour (hi/hello/good morning/good afternoon)

:o

 

Don't be afraid to add 'please' to that list! S'il vous plait :)

[Jennyfer]

Thank you all so much for your information. It makes me feel a lot better. Merci beaucoup.

[Annagon24]

Jennyfer,

We just returned from 2 weeks in FP - 4 nites at the Pearl Moorea and 10 nites on a wonderful Paul Gauguin cruise and didn't find any difficulties arising from us not speaking French.

Anna

[honumaui]

We were in Tahiti 5 yrs ago on Princess...going again this Dec on the PG. It was fun to use two Tahitian words they taught us Hello: Iaorana ( the i is pronounced E) and Mauruuru : Thank you

[MotuIslander]

And in Tahitian you pronounce EVERY vowel! Imagine how you say: Mauruuru :eek:

[bethcooks4u]

Another good Polynesian word is "Nana" - it's their casual word for good bye.